Minister of Education, Santia Bradshaw receives cheque for $10,000 from Director of Peloton International Ltd., Julian Jordan, towards the purchase of devices for use by students and teachers in online education. Looking on is Chief Education Officer (Ag), Joy Adamson. (E. Walker/MRD)
Peloton International Ltd. has donated $10,000 to the Ministry of Education, Technological and Vocational Training towards the purchase of devices to assist the island’s teachers and students in better accessing the online platform.
In accepting the cheque last Friday from Director of Peloton International Ltd., Julian Jordan, Education Minister, Santia Bradshaw said: “Obviously Barbados has been thrust, like other Caribbean countries, into utilising technology to be able to have a blended approach to teaching and learning. And, while we had never prepared for this, we have been certainly overwhelmed by the response from our corporate donors and our people who have benefitted in our system – people who are friends of Barbados – reaching out to the Ministry of Education and the Government of Barbados to support the efforts and the initiative to have students be able to learn online.”
Thanking the company, Minister Bradshaw added that donations from corporate Barbados allowed “for many students to be online as well as bridge the gap of those students who really don’t have access to the online platforms”.
Stressing that requests for such devices are ongoing, she urged others to continue the effort as there would always be the need, and for Government and corporate Barbados to respond to those needs.
Mr. Jordan was also praised by the Education Minister for “giving back” and ensuring there were “strong ties” connecting Barbados to the world and all the resources that could improve the island’s education system.
“A large plank of our platform has been to invite corporate entities to give back, invite people who have come through our educational system and have benefitted from our educational system to give back to our country.
“We’re seeing it with students from the university and the other tertiary institutions, making a call to them to give back and in some way to volunteer to Barbadians and to the wider community,” she noted.
Mr. Jordan, while praising the island’s educational system from which he benefited, noted that Peloton International Ltd was itself a beneficiary of that system, given the position he now holds.
Acknowledging that he was “very proud” to contribute to the island’s online efforts, he noted that the company owns and manages the rights to specialised software, including a database system designed for capturing, storing, viewing and reporting oil and gas well information for its customers globally.
“We’re delighted to be making this presentation today and look forward to be helping, as we can, more in the future,” he stressed, further noting the entity was pleased to be contributing in other ways to the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) efforts in Barbados, through the Caribbean Science Foundation, where it was a longtime sponsor.
